PSY to earn over $8.1m from Gangnam Style

PSY is predicted to earn over $8.1 million from his hit record 'Gangnam Style' as the video heads towards one billion views on YouTube

PSY is predicted to earn $8.1 million from 'Gangnam Style'.

The South Korean pop star's video to the track has reached almost one billion views on YouTube, earning an estimated $870,000 from advertising revenue the site so far. He also gets a cut of advertising revenues from the huge numbers of parody videos the song has spawned.

PSY - real name Park Jae-Sand - is also gaining revenue from the use of his music in commercials for Southern Korean company Kyobo Securities, reportedly pocketing him $4.6 million this year alone.

In the US and South Korea PSY is estimated to have earned over $3 million from online downloads, while CD sales have netted him an estimated $50,000.

Earlier this year 'Gangnam Style' took the spot for most-watched video ever on YouTube, overtaking Justin Bieber's track 'Baby', and the 34-year-old singer won Best Video at this year's MTV European Music Awards in Frankfurt.

Although the track - which is also the ninth best-selling single of 2012 in the UK - only features three words in English, it has been a huge smash, largely thanks to its video and accompanying dance routine, which has been copied by many famous fans, including Madonna.

Previously speaking about the song's success, PSY said: "I've done this for 12 years in South Korea, I did the exact same thing I did before, and it just happened so what can I say? Its so great, so great."